Prophet Bushiri reiterates call for calm as Malawi election case ruling draw near

Leader of Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) church Prophet Shepherd Bushiri has, once again, appealed for peace and calm to the Malawi nation   and parties to peacefully accept the Constitutional Court ruling on the elections case expected this  week.

Bushiri  has since appealled to the world to pray for the spirit of peace to reign in Malawi.

The ECG leader was the first to go public in October 2019 to raise an alarm on the need for leaders from religious, political and non-governmental groupings to start preparing Malawians to accept elections court outcome.

His message well received, acknowledged and acted upon by leaders from various strands of Malawi.

Underlining the importance of his message, the ECG leader took to the pulpit during a Sunday Service on Jnauary 26 2020 in Pretoria, South Africa  to reiterate the call for peace and calm

He said: “With few days to the ruling, I am calling on the entire world , everybody listening to this message right now, to take a moment and pray for the nation of Malawi. There is a ruling that will define the political route of Malawi and, already, stakes are high. Let us all pray for peace and calm in Malawi.”

The ECG leader has, again, asked political leaders–both from government and the opposition–to scale up messages of preparing their respective followers to accept the verdict of the court and those that may feel aggrieved by a ruling  should  prevent anarchy and uphold the rule of law.

“As a prophet, as a man of God, my job is not to announce who will be a winner. I don’t want to be like am trying to influence [the ruling].

“After the ruling I am seeing an appeal [of  the determination in the Supreme Court of Appeal]” said Bushiri.

He said that whatever direction the ruling may take, even those that will make an appeal, should do so without stirring emotions of the nation.

Constitutional Court chair Judge Healey Potani leading a panel of High Court judges including ivy Kamanga, Dingiswayo Madise, Mike Tembo and Redson Kapindu already indicated that  the country’s judicial system gives the disgruntled party a right to appeal.

He said an appeal of the Constitutional Court ruling will be in the Supreme Court of Appeal.

“We are not the final arbiter in this matter,” he said.

The Constitutional Court has a deadline of February 3 to issue a ruling on the case, which sparked violent protests since last year.

In the historic elections case, the first petitioner Saulos Chilima of UTM and second petitioner Chakwera are seeking a nullification of presidential results in the May 21 Tripartite Elections.

The Malawi Law Society (MLS), development partners and religious groups have also called on Malawians to accept the outcome of the ConCourt.

Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) declared President Peter Mutharika the winner in the elections, beating other Chakwera and Chilima.

Mutharika is the first respondent, while MEC is the second respondent in the case in which the petitioners allege that MEC mismanaged the elections in favour of Mutharika.